Garage door



March 24, 1925.

o. L. DAUTRICK.

- GARAGE- DOOR Original Filed Aug. 1.. 1 2

2 Shgts-Sheet 1 t l l 7/44.

Patented Mar. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES OWEN L. DAUTRICK, F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNO'R TO DAUTRICK-JOHNSON MAN- UFACTURING COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

GARAGE noon.

Application filed August 1, 1921, Serial No. 488,773. Renewed January 3, 1925.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that OwnN L. DAUTRICK,

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garage Doors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to garage doors, and has special reference to thattype of building door which is bodily raised and placed in a horizontal overhead position. Such doors may be advantageously used in connection with garages, elevator shafts and stair wells where hinged or swinging doors could not be conveniently used. 7

The primary object of my invention is to provide a panel or slatted door that will it provide a secure closure for a garage or other building having a wide or large doorway. The panels or slats of the door are articulated so that the door may assume other than a vertical position as the same it is raised, thus permitting of the door being raised to an out of the way place, for instance, beneath the roof or \ceiling of a garage. I

Another object of this invention is to provide novel guide rails for a flexible or slatted door or curtain, and pieces of hardware for the edges of the door which will cooperate with the rails in guiding and re-" taining the door in a defined path.

A further object of this inventionis to provide a hoisting mechanism for slatted doors or curtains wherein the hoisting mechanism facilitates adjustment of the door or curtain and prevents a sudden or slammin action of 'the same. The hoisting mechanism includes cables, drums and springs with the ret-ractile force ..of said springs utilized as a power for raising the door and balancing it in any position. 5 The above and other objects are attained by a garage construction which will be hereinafter described and then claimed, and reference will now be had to the drawings, whereinp Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of a garage provided with a door in accordance with myinvention, and showing by dot and dash lines thedoor in an open position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a portion of the door frame andgarage showing the inner side of the door,

and

Fig. 7'is an elevation of a portion of the door, showing locking mechanism therefor.v

As an example of a garage or building which may be provided with a door embodymg features 0 my invention, I show a port1on of a garage having a roof 1 supported by studdmg 2, girders 3, side walls 4 and a door frame or door jambs 5, it being understood that the arage has a rear wall and may have a suitable floor.

The door frame 5 has a doorway 6 and suitably connected to the sides of the door frame are angle guide rails 7 which extend from the bottom ofthe door frame upwardly and are curved rearwardly to provide overhead horizontally disposed door supporting rails 8 which are a continuation of the vertical guide rails 7. The rails 8 may be supported by brackets 9 from the studding 2. i

The door for the doorway 6 is composed of panels or slats 10 having the longitudinal edges thereof hingedl' connected as at 112' The ma'ority of the hinges are on the inner face 0 the-door and the other hinges are on the outer face and are employed for connecting the two uppermost panels or slats 12 and 12' to the remainder of the door. The panel 12 is comparatively narrow, with hinges at both sides thereof, and this narrow panel permits of the wide panels 12' properly swinging when assuming an open or a closed position. This arrangement of the hinges will permit of the'jointed panels being swung from vertical position to horizontal positions, without having the outer face of the door interrupted by transverse slots or grooves. I

The vertical edges of the door are provlded with pieces of hardware to guide the doorv in the doorway 6 and relative to the rails 7 and 8. The pieces of hardwareare suitably placed on the ends of each door panel and include angle lates 13, movable members or rollers 14, an stationary retaining members 15. The movable members or rollers 14 are on stub shafts 16 carried by the angle plates 13, and said rollers engage the angle rails 7, while the retaining members 15 extend behind or under said rails, thus cooperating with the rollers in preventing accidental displacement of the door relative to the rails 7 and 8. The pieces of hardware are on the inner face of the door panel, and the uppermost panel 12 has brackets 17 provided with movable and stationary retaining members, similar to those just described, so that the uppermost panel may be held relative to the curved portions of the rails, also in order that the uppermost panel will assume a closed position.

Mounted on the side edges of the lowermost panel, at the lower edge thereof, are anchor plates 18 for the lower ends of cables 19, chains or other flexible members. The anchor plates 18 have studs 20 and 21 about which the lower ends of the cables are trained and the studs 21 have nuts 22 or other retaining devices for preventing displacement of the ends of the cables. The cables extend upwardly in the doorway 6 and are attached to and adapted to be wound on large drums 23 rotatably supported between the girders 3 by bearing brackets 24. Associated with the drums 23 are drums '25 to which are attached cables 26. The free ends of saidcables are connected to coiled retractile springs 27 constituting door counterbalancing devices and said springs are attached to turn buckles 28 supported by a transverse beam 29 connecting the studs or side walls of the building. The retractile force of the springs 27 assist in raising the door by unwinding the cables 26 from the drums 25 and Winding the cables 19 on the drums 23. The retractile force of the springs 27 is suiiicient to lift the door, after impetus is imparted to the same, and when lowering the door expanding of the springs 27 will cushion the downward movement of the door and prevent slamming. The door is provided with a locking mechanism comprising opposed bolts adapted to engage in the door frame and prevent raising of the door, and said mechanism includes the following elements On the inner side of one of the door panels, at the ends thereof, are guides 30 for slide bolts 31 which enter openings in the rails 7 and recesses 32 in the door frame and prevent raising of the door. The bolts are retracted by rods 33 pivotally connected to a head 34 mounted on the inner end of a turn bolt 35 journaled in the door panel. The outer end of the turn'bolt 35 has a crank 36 and apertured arm 37. The arm 37 is adapted to engage an apertured stop lug 38 and when said engagement is established the shackle 39 of a padlock 40 may be placed through the arm and lug to hold the lock mechanism against actuation.

When the locking mechanism is released l the crank handle 36 may be used to start the door upwardly when the springs 27 will be brought into action to balance the door or bodily shift the door onto the tracks 8, where'it will be overhead and out of the road.

When a garage roof is close tothe lintel of the door way, the door hoisting or balancmg mechanism may be to one side of the tracks 8 so that the springs 27 will not interfere with movement of the door.

It is thought that the utility of my invention will be apparent without further description, and while in the drawing there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the structural elements are susceptible to such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a building havmg a wide doorway and jamb, of a slatted door for the doorway of said building adapted to fit against the jamb and completely close the doorway, guide rails for said door, said-guide rails extending awav from the top portion of the doorway in h plane below the top of the door jamb, and brackets carried by the uppermost slat of said door and riding on said rails, said brackets closing said slat against the door jamb when said door is closed.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, characterized by said rails having horizontal portions which support the door overhead when said door is open with said brackets constantly supporting the uppermost door slat at an angle to said rails.

3. In a garage door construction wherein the door is composed of panels or slats and the door is adapted to be bodily raised and placed in a horizontal overhead position; means for guiding such a door, said means comprising rails having rearwardly curved portions, rollers supported from the ends of the door panels and engaging said rails, retaining members carried by the ends of the door panels and cooperating with said rollers in retaining said door in engagement with said rails, and brackets on the uppermost panel .or slat of said door supporting the rollers and retaining members thereof and by virtue of the curved portions of said rails causing the uppermost door panel or slat to assume a vertical position when the door is closed, with the top edge of the uppermost panel in a plane above the plane of the'rearwardly curved portions of said rails. 4. The combination with a building havmg a doorway, a panel door for said doorway, said door having articulated panels permitting of said door being raised from a vertical position and shifted inwardly from the upper edge of the doorway and placed in a horizontal position, of raising means for said door, said means comprising sets of drums, cables connecting the' lower end of said door to one of said sets of drums and adapted to wind thereon, cables wound on the other set of drums and adapted to be unwound and impart movement to the first mentioned set of drums, and retractile springs connected to the last mentioned cables and adapted to unwind said cables, said springs extending horizontally in a plane above the plane of the door when raised.

5. In a garage doorway, jamb and door structure wherein rails adjacent said doorway jamb structure movably support a panel door adapted vwhen closed to engage the doorway jamb structure and when open occupy an overhead out-of-the-way position within the garage; means for causing the uppermost panel of the door to execute a closing movement of less amplitude'than the other panels of the door, said means including brackets carried by the upper panel of the door and forming supports for rollers movable on the rails, said brackets having a constant defined relation to the uppermostpanel of the'door.

6. In a garage doorway, jamb structure,

' a door structure having substantially wide hingedly-connected panels of a length to overlie the jamb structure when the door is in its lowered or entrance-closing position, guide rail structure for the door structure with the rails extending into an overhead position within the garage to support the door structure when the'latter extends in a generally horizontal direction in its raised or entrance-open position, said rail structure co-operating with the 1amb structure to maintain the outer face of the door structure against the jamb structure when the door isin its lower position, the door structure in such lower position having its inner face extending in approximately a single plane, and means for facilitating movement of the door structure between such positions, said means including a generallycurved zone within the rail structure positioned to be traversed by the door structure in passing from one of said positions to the other, rail-engaging rolls at the ends ofand carried bythe door panels to co-operate with the rails to maintain relative positions of door panels and guide rails when the door structure is moved between its positions, said rolls being rela tively arranged in a manner such as to place the axis of the rolls of the upper panel at a distance relative to the plane of the inner face of the lowered door structure greater than that of the axis of the rolls of the adjacent panel, and means counterbalancing partially open posi- .with the rails extending into an overhead position within the garage to support the door structure when the latter extends in a generally horizontal direction in its raised or entrance-open position, said rail structures co-operating with the jamb structure to maintain the outer face of the door structure against the jamb structure when the door is in its lower position, the door structure in such lowered position having its inner face extending in approximately a single plane and means for facilitating movement of the door structure between such positions, said means including a generally-curved zone within the rail structure positioned to be traversed by the door structure in passing, from one of said positions to the other, rail-engaging rolls at the ends of and carried by and movable with the door panels to co-operate with the rails to maintain relative positions of door panels and guide rails when the door structure is moved between its positions, said rolls being relatively arranged in a manner such as to place the axis of the rolls of the upper panel at a distance relative to the plane of the inner face of the lowered door structure greater than that of the axis of the rolls of the OWEN L. DAUTRIOK. Witnesses C. G. JOHNSON, ANNA M. Donn.v I 

